


LP2 - "I'll Be Seeing You/Orange Colored Sky"

by MovesLikeBucky



Series: Wasteland Jukebox [3]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst and Humor, F/M, POV Alternating, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 14:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16265996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MovesLikeBucky/pseuds/MovesLikeBucky
Summary: Another day, another raider den, thought Sofia as they trekked from the old federal ration storage to the small farm known as Sunshine Tidings.  She and Preston had been keeping busy; he’d been teaching her about the wasteland she now called home, and she had been fighting through raiders, gunners, and super mutants alongside him to keep the Minutemen network settlements safe.It was better than facing her problems head on right now.





	1. I'll Be Seeing You

_I'll be seeing you  
_

_In all the old familiar places  
_

_That this heart of mine embraces  
_

_All day through_

([I'll Be Seeing You - Billie Holiday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQNnIHNHnnY))

 

 

 _Another day, another raider den_ , thought Sofia as they trekked from the old federal ration storage to the small farm known as Sunshine Tidings.  She and Preston had been keeping busy; he’d been teaching her about the wasteland she now called home, and she had been fighting through raiders, gunners, and super mutants alongside him to keep the Minutemen network settlements safe.

It was better than facing her problems head on right now.  They had found Nick, and with his help had figured out exactly _who_ kidnapped her son.  They just didn’t know where he was, exactly.  She knew that Dogmeat would be able to track him, but she wasn’t ready.  She was scared of so many things.  Scared that Shaun would be dead, scared that she’d lose what was left of her sanity in the presence of the man who destroyed her family, scared that she’d be hasty and kill their only lead to finding her son.  She needed time.  Not that she had much of that lying around, but she just couldn’t do this now.

Thankfully the settlements always needed help. Sometimes it was attacks, sometimes it was repairs, but she was always happy to lend a hand.  And traveling with Preston was always nice.  Even if she was  _technically_ his boss now, she still enjoyed his presence.

“Do you think they’ll want to join up after this?” Preston asked her, slightly out of breath from the long uphill walk.  Sunshine Tidings had a pretty good southern vantage point, but this hill was a bitch.  She was hoping they’d join if for no other reason than she could get rid of some scrap, send it on its way with a provisioner.

“Hopefully,” she replied, “We’re starting to get a reputation around here.” She looked back at him and he was positively beaming.  She knew this all meant a lot to him, rebuilding the Minutemen.  It was starting to mean a lot to her, too.  It was giving her the same rush that her time practicing law did.  She _loved_ fighting the assholes; proving them wrong, saving her clients from a prison system that hated the poor and was designed to keep them in there as long as they could.  Fuck that noise.

Not that any of that mattered now, nobody needed lawyers anymore.

Sofia had started getting used to this place now that she was three months in; some things were still strange to her.  She still didn’t get the laser muskets; they were so bright and noisy.  She preferred a stealthy approach, catching her enemies off guard.  She didn’t get the Brotherhood of Steel, why would you want to keep the military together when the world was, well, like this?  She wasn’t sure about the Institute and the allegations of them replacing people with exact replicas.  What would be the point?

But for now, settlements were priority.  Sunshine Tidings, if they joined, would be the seventh settlement in the network.  Things were going well, at least on this front, with more Minutemen recruits joining the ranks every week.  It was a great thing to see, gave her a little bit of hope.  She especially liked it when she overheard people going up to Preston to thank the Minutemen for everything that they do.  She knew it made him happy, and that made her happy, too. He had come to mean a lot to her as a person, and he made wandering this wasteland tolerable.

The only problem is that when they wandered the wasteland, her eyes tended to wander as well.  Did he have to walk like that?  Did he have to have those broad shoulders?  Those muscles that were so obvious despite all the layers he always wore?

Ugh, this stupid crush of hers was getting on her last nerve. She found herself just watching him randomly, didn’t matter what he was doing.  Something about him just got her blood going and she couldn’t make it stop. She’d always been a very… _passionate_ person, ready to go whenever she felt like, no matter the place.  But this wasn’t the time.

 _Sofia,_ she told herself, _for fuck’s sake, get past it._ It wasn’t anything like love, far from it.  She still cried about Nate at night, when she was alone with her thoughts. She loved him, more than anything, cliché as that was.  During quiet moments, she couldn’t stop going over what happened.  Wondering if there were some way she could’ve gotten out of that pod and stopped it.  These thoughts permeated her to her core.  She wasn’t sure if she even wanted to move on, and it wasn’t something she really wanted to _begin_ to consider until she had Shaun back.

Besides, if she couldn’t find Shaun, there wouldn’t be anything else of her left to give someone new.  What would be the point?  Two hundred years in the future, husband dead, son missing.  Every friend, colleague, acquaintance, everyone she’d ever known was gone.  The world didn’t need her at that point, so why should she stick around?

But then here was Preston, who had pinned all of his hope on her.  Which she still thought was a stupid decision, but every time they helped out the settlers she felt better about it.  And that smile he gave her when she agreed to help them, Lord, she could’ve sworn that was what made the sun still shine out here.  His smile still never quite made it all the way to his eyes, though, and she knew he was struggling underneath.  Hell, she was too.

As they walked back into Sunshine Tidings, seeing the people hard at work just trying to eke out what living they could, she knew they weren’t the only ones.  _I mean really,_ she thought, _show me someone who isn’t suffering in some way out here and I’ll show you a liar._   She went to search for Emma, the de facto leader of this settlement, while one of the settlers stopped Preston to talk about the Minutemen.  Hopefully Emma could tell that there was strength in numbers.

“So do we still have to worry about those raiders?” She stood up from the tato plants she was tending, wiping the dirt off her hands, “Did the Minutemen come through for us today?”

“All clear, Emma,” said Sofia, “They won’t be bothering you again.”

“That’s the best news I’ve had all week, if that’s how things are being handled now, we’d be happy to join your settlement network.”

“Great,” she said, pulling up the map on her PipBoy, “I’ll start a line from Oberland to here, that way you’ll have more access to supplies, and-“

“General, sorry to interrupt,” Preston jogged over to her, radio on his belt buzzing with static, “We just got a call in from a settlement near Diamond City called Hangman’s Alley.  They’re usually pretty secure, but they’ve been getting overrun with super mutants lately.  They need our help.”

“All the way by Diamond City?” Sofia asked, feeling every spot of pain in her feet and back, “that’s a hell of a walk, but I’m up for it if you are.”  She smiled at him and she could’ve sworn she saw him blushing, but he pulled his hat down and she couldn’t be sure. 

“I’ll mark it on the map,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.  The sun was already starting to set.  They were both tired, going nonstop for the past several days, “Is it ok if we rest here for the night, Emma?”

“No problem at all,” Emma replied, “Got two extra beds.”

“Great,” said Sofia, hoping the sarcasm didn't bleed through too harshly, “Anything to be able to get off my feet for a few minutes.”

She didn’t really want to sleep, she knew if she stopped moving her sadness would catch up.  She’d rather just keep going, but that was selfish.  Just because _she_ didn’t wantto rest didn’t mean she could force Preston not to.

It would be an early start in the morning, Hangman’s Alley was at least a half a day’s walk.  But for tonight, Sofia fell onto a mattress in the floor of an old shed and tried to sleep.  As usual, Nate came to her mind.  Every time she drifted she saw it again.  Over and over, she watched him die.

 

////

“Wait, wait, wait, so you’re telling me that bloatflys, radroaches, all of that stuff, used to be…tiny?”

Sofia nodded at him, suppressing the urge to laugh uncontrollably.  Preston had the most confused look on his face that she’d ever seen on him.  They were sitting on a decrepit bench in the old park that was along the path to Hangman’s Alley, right next to what used to be a small pond.  They had stopped so they could eat something.  That something turned out to be grilled radroach today, _totally_ her favorite.  Not.

“Like, wait, smaller than _birds_.”

Sofia couldn't hold it in anymore, she broke out into gut busting laughter, “Preston, oh my god, birds used to _eat_ those things!”

He took his hat off and scratched his head, “I mean, I’ve heard some of the older ghouls talk about pre-war things, but nobody’s ever mentioned that to me before.  Just seems, I dunno, _weird_.”

Sofia was laughing hard enough now that she thought she might fall over, she couldn’t even talk.

“I don’t get it what’s so funny?”

“Just the fact that it’s weird!  This world is so topsy turvy I can’t help but laugh at it.  You think a tiny bloodbug would be weird, imagine if you’d only seen tiny ones your whole life and now they were the size of Dogmeat!” She draped her arm on his shoulder and leaned into it, still laughing as hard as she could; she didn’t know WHY his reaction was so damn funny, just that it was.  She gave up on it and continued laughing into his shoulder.

“I just can’t believe they’d ever be _tiny_.”  He was staring off, dumbfounded.  So many thing still confused her, but it was beyond fun to confuse him.

 “Oh my god I haven’t laughed like that in a while, thanks for that.”  She still had a slight case of the giggles, but they were subsiding.  She sat back up and looked over at Preston and there it was, beet red all over his face. She got some satisfaction out of that.

“What’s the matter, Cowboy?” She couldn’t help herself, she was already cracking up  again, “You’re looking a little pinkish all the sudden.”

“Huh, oh, no it’s nothing,” He was somehow redder after she called him out, “Just didn’t think about it that way I guess.” And there was the smile, she could count on being able to coax that out of him any time she wanted.  Still not quite all the way.

“So what was this place like,” he asked, “You know, before the war.”

“What,” she asked, “this park?”  He nodded.

“Well,” she started, “When it was good, it was great. They had just built it when I moved here to start working in Concord, and it was really nice.  Every color of flower you could think of, plenty of room to run around.  There used to be a little gazebo over there.”  She pointed out a concrete circle that was in the middle of the former pond.

“There was a little path of stonework bridges and platforms that went out to that gazebo,” she looked over at him and smiled, “I used to go there to read documents and law books when I had a tough case to work on. It was always so peaceful, singing birds and the whole thing.”  She looked back down at the ground again, sighing heavily, “And when Nate came along, we had picnic dates here.  And then Shaun, we used to bring him here, too.”  She could feel her eyes starting to water.  She didn’t talk about them much, but being here made it all a little too real.  She wanted to tell Preston everything; all of the hurt that was built up inside of her that felt like it would bubble over and consume her if she let down her guard for just a minute.  He didn’t need that, he had his own problems.  She could see it in his face, in how he held his gun; he was facing down the same demons as her, he didn’t need to worry about hers as well.  And she knew he would if he knew about them fully.

“Sounds like it was nice.”

“Yeah,” she said, “It used to be.  Just one more thing for the bombs to take away.”  She could feel her right hand catch a tremor, that always signaled it.  She was on the verge of a breakdown, why did she decide to rest here?  Too many old memories in this place.  Some very important things had happened in that gazebo; and not just in terms of work.

Too many memories period; everywhere they went she could see some of Nate there.  She felt those quiet tears threatening to spill over.

“Well,” said Preston, “There’s still some water running through here, probably not as much as there used to be, but with a bit of cleanup this place could be nice again!  Maybe sometime we can come back and try to clean it up a little?” And there it was again, still not quite there.  She was starting to feel like it was her personal mission to make him smile properly. He didn’t talk much about anything before Quincy.  Or even much about Quincy for that matter, and she couldn’t help but wonder how many horrible things those kind eyes had seen.

“Yeah, maybe we could.  I’d really like that, Preston.” He took her hand for just a moment and squeezed it.  She halfway wondered if he could tell she had been on the verge, but put the thought at the back of her mind.  “You ready to move out, Cowboy?”

“Yeah, if we keep this pace we should get to Hangman’s by nightfall.”

And so they continued on their way; her hiking in front, Preston behind her.  The thought of fixing up the park was one she could hold onto, even if it was a flimsy promise at best.  She couldn’t stop a small sob escaping her for Nate, and she hoped Preston didn’t notice.

One of these days he’d tell her what was on his mind, and she’d tell him everything weighing on her, but she could wait.  They still had a long way to go, after all.

 

////

 Why super mutants decided to hole up in an old historic building, she’d never know. Then again, super mutants didn’t make much sense.  She still wondered what the big bags of, uh, ‘meat’, were for exactly.  She was also sure she didn’t really want to know.

She also wasn’t ready to find out exactly how quickly they could break through a chained door.

“Any luck over there?” Preston called to her from across the room.  He was moving a large file cabinet to barricade the door.

“Doing the best I can, Cowboy,” she said, a little harsher than intended, “People didn’t just leave passwords written down around here you know?”

They knew there’d be super mutants, but they underestimated exactly how many there would be.  They had managed to barricade themselves in the tour employee break room, and found a terminal that Sofia was sure controlled either the turrets or the Protectron in the lobby.  Either would be a welcome addition to their situation, considering the five super mutants trying to dismantle the door right now.

“Well any time now would be just wonderful!” He was leaning against the heavy file cabinet now, reloading his laser musket.

“Preston,” she flashed him a crooked grin, “Haven’t you heard? Patience is a virtue.”

A green hand punched through the wall near his head.

“Not right now it isn’t!”

“There,” she said, the computer dinging and making it’s little clicking sounds as the current info loaded, “I’m in!”

She quickly programmed the robot into police officer mode and joined him in leaning against the file cabinet, taking a moment to make sure her shotgun was fully loaded.

They heard the Protectron spring to life in the lobby, and they stayed silent as they listened to it taking out super mutants until there was only silence. They had no real way to know how many it would take out before they destroyed it, not without leaving the room. They stood there, silent, staring at each other for what felt to Sofia like an eternity.

“I’m going to go check.” They said, at the same time.

“Like hell, General, I can’t let you go out there.”

“What if I order you to stand down?” There wasn’t a scenario where she was letting him run in on his own.  She’d seen that particular look in soldiers’ eyes before.

“What if I don’t listen?”

“Then what did you make me General for?”

“We could just go together?” he shrugged.

“Yeah, that sounds better to me.”  She helped him push the file cabinet out of the way and he opened the door slowly.  She held her shotgun at the ready, nodded at him, and left the room.  Preston followed immediately behind her.  As they made their way through, she started to think maybe that little Protectron took out all of them.  They could hear him lumbering further through the building. “ _Stand down citizens”_ echoing through the halls.  Maybe, just maybe, they were safe now.  She lowered her gun momentarily, breathing a heavy sigh of relief.

And that’s when she heard the brute barreling at her.

“General, look out!”

Before she even knew what happened, Preston had pushed her out of the way.  All Sofia could do was watch as a super mutant brute tackled him full force out the window of Faneuil Hall.


	2. Orange Colored Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Preston was most definitely falling, and trying very hard to find something to grab onto on the way down.

_I was walking along, minding my business,_

_When out of the orange-colored sky,_

_Flash! Bam! Alacazam!_

_Wonderful you came by._

([Orange-Colored Sky](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad6EL-qTGl8) \- Nat King Cole)

 

Preston tried to focus on what the settler was telling him.  He always appreciated when the settlers stopped him to thank the Minutemen for everything they do; but right now he was more than a little distracted.

Sofia was talking to Emma, and he could already tell she’d recruited the settlers of Sunshine Tidings into the network.  She had this effortless way with people that made them trust her.  That had probably been very beneficial when she was a lawyer.

But what was distracting was the sunset, lighting the sky in a faint purple-striped orange glow behind her.  He swore that the ‘blue angel’ had a halo.  He knew, of course, this was just a trick of the light; the soft orange sunset bouncing off her olive-tan skin giving her a radiant glow.

Could’ve fooled him though.  If someone told him she fell from heaven just to save the Commonwealth he’d believe them.

He was shaken from his thoughts by a crackle of static from the radio on his belt, followed by a very scared voice.

“ _This is -crkk- from Hangman’s -crrRRRkkk- we could rea-CRRKK-lly use the Minute -CRRRRRRKKKKkkk- help with super-crrKKrkk-ants --”_

Preston continued listening, trying to make out what he could.  Hangman’s Alley was having super mutant troubles.  He’d heard of Hangman’s Alley from some of the other settlers.  It was nestled in between what used to be apartment buildings in Boston proper; right near Diamond City.  The alley would make for easy defense, but even the best defenses could be overrun by super mutants with an axe to grind.

Or a super sledge, probably a super sledge.

From here he could see Sofia messing with the map on her PipBoy and he knew she was setting up some trade routes for them.  He could see her furrowed brow from here, concentrating hard, trying to decide where they needed provisioners the most. He hated to interrupt, but the wasteland waits for no one.

 

////

He couldn’t help but smile as Sofia laughed into the crook of her arm that was resting on his shoulder.  She always seemed on the verge of a breakdown, and he hated to see her like that.  He’d decided a month ago, after their conversation about the Brotherhood of Steel, he wasn’t going to let anything in the Commonwealth keep her down for very long.  She had this great laugh, like she just got away with something she shouldn’t have. And her crooked grin melted any walls that he’d built.

Preston was most definitely falling, and trying very hard to find something to grab onto on the way down.  Everything she did just endeared her to him more, and he had been doing his damndest to stop feeling that way.

Not that there was anything wrong with that, Sofia was a wonderful woman with a kind heart and an itchy trigger finger. Any man in the Commonwealth would be lucky to be with her, but it wasn’t the time or the place for that.  She was still grieving, and she had put her trust in him to show her how life worked out here.  Preston knew the last thing Sofia needed was for him to start having feelings.  No, what she needed now was a friend she could count on.  And if he couldn’t be anything else, he could for sure be that.

Of course he knew that the giant insects of the wasteland used to be tiny.  He wasn’t stupid, but she thought it was funny, and he loved hearing that laugh. So he went along with it. Anything to hear that laugh; and anything to see that smile.  Hell, anything to know she was keeping it together.  He knew she had demons she was battling, just like he did.  He didn’t need to ask why she was putting off the search for her son, all he could do was let her work through it in her own time. How she kept it together at all was beyond him. 

Preston had grown to trust her implicitly.  He wanted to tell her everything he’d felt since Quincy; the hopelessness, the nightmares, the ever present haze over him that made it feel like ending it all would be the best way to go.  But he’d burdened her so much already, and he didn't think he could live with himself if he put this on her as well.  So instead he just gazed at her while her laughter died down to a giggle.  His face went crimson when she looked up and caught him staring.

“What’s the matter, Cowboy?  You’re looking a little pinkish all the sudden.”

His face flushed even deeper in embarrassment.  Why had he let himself stare?  And why did she have to smirk when she called him ‘cowboy’? For that matter, why did she have to call him ‘cowboy’?  He liked it more than he cared to admit, desperately putting a halt to thoughts of all the…interesting ways he was sure she could say it.

“Huh, oh, no it’s nothing, just didn’t think about it that way I guess.”

He needed to stop doing that.  Preston caught himself often in small moments daydreaming, almost fantasizing about her.  She was so unlike anyone he’d ever met out here.  Sofia really cared about other people, and didn’t expect anything in return for it; that was rare.

He didn’t like the awkward tension he was feeling right now, so he decided to change the subject.  They were in a pre-war park, at least that’s what she had told him.  It was so broken down and decrepit it was hard to tell from the rest of the land around.

“So what was this place like?  You know, before the war.”  He always liked hearing her talk about how things used to be; imagining the places they went as thriving and full of happy people was always a nice distraction for both of them.

“What, this park?  Well,” she started, eyes lighting up at what he was sure were happy memories, “When it was good, it was great.  They had just built it when I moved here to start working in Concord, and it was really nice.  Every color of flower you could think of, plenty of room to run around.  There used to be a little gazebo over there.”  He followed her finger to a small concrete circle, sticking out of a wide hole in the ground.  She talked about Nate and the times they used to have here, about how she used to work on cases here, and that’s when he noticed her face falling again.

He could see it in the glassiness of her eyes, in the way her face started to just turn a rosy pink.  He could especially see it in the slight tremor that always started in her right hand just before she lost control.  She was about to have a breakdown.

He’d gotten good at spotting it, and all she usually needed if he caught it early enough was a slight redirection in her thoughts and it abated.  He had just the thing for that.

“Well,” he said, “There’s still some water running through here, probably not as much as there used to be, but with a bit of cleanup this place could be nice again!  Maybe sometime we can come back and try to clean it up a little?”

That seemed to do the trick, at least momentarily.  He knew it wasn’t much more than a band-aid and that eventually she’d need to get some real help with what was going on in her head. But for now, he’d do what he could to try to keep things positive.  She smiled at him, that crooked grin that kept dragging him in further and further, and he took her hand and squeezed it in reassurance.  Burgeoning feelings or not; he was going to do what he could for her.

They continued on their way to Hangman’s Alley; her in front, him behind, as usual.  She always said she preferred the vantage point in front; but something was different today.  He tried to pretend he didn’t notice her shoulders shaking as she quietly wept to herself.

 

////

Faneuil Hall was a sight to see.  Preston always loved pre-war history, some would even say he was a nerd for it.  To say he was hoping to do some sleuthing to learn more while they were here was an understatement.  No, he was _definitely_ going to do that. Once the supers were cleared out.

At least, that’s what he had thought.  The building didn’t look _that_ big, but after what must’ve been the sixteenth super mutant and at least the fourth mutant hound, he decided this place was definitely bigger on the inside.  They just kept coming, no matter how many they took out.  Sofia found an old Protectron unit and decided to hack it, so he was currently trying to barricade the chained door of the room they were in while she diligently tried to hack into the RobCo monitor nearby.

“Any luck over there?” He called to her as he pushed a large file cabinet in front of the door.  The consistent angry-sounding beep every few seconds told him all he needed to know.

“Doing the best I can, Cowboy,” she snapped at him slightly, “People didn’t just leave passwords written down around here you know?”

They had chained the door as soon as they entered, and the few pieces of furniture he had managed to pile in front of the door were helping.  He could still feel it giving under the pressure of repeated tackles by the hulking green beings on the other side.  They were running out of time.

“Well any time now would be just wonderful!” He was leaning against the file cabinet trying to reload; every time they tackled the door he felt the shockwave pulse through him, but he wasn’t about to move.

“Preston, haven’t you heard?  Patience is a virtue.” And there was that grin again; he couldn’t believe she was actually having fun right now. 

Right about then one of the super mutants managed to break it's arm through the rotten wood of the wall next to his head, almost grabbing him.

“Not right now it isn’t!”

He heard the telltale ding of success on the monitor, “There,” she said, “I’m in!”

She quickly booted the robot and then rushed over to the file cabinet to help him brace it, loading her shotgun.  They heard the Protectron come on outside the door and start taking out mutants.  Slowly, but surely, the angry snarls of the creatures abated and all they could here was the little robot waddling around shouting _“to protect and serve”._

The door had stopped shaking, the green arm that had punched through the wall was, well, it wasn’t _gone_ but it was dismembered and laying on the floor in front of them. He felt like they stood there in the silence for ages, neither one daring to move.  After what was actually only a few minutes, he decided to take action.

“I’m going to go check.” He said just as she said the same thing.

“Like hell, General, I can’t let you go out there.” He looked at her incredulously.  Was she serious right now?

“What if I order you to stand down?”

“What if I don’t listen?”

“Then what did you make me General for?”

She had him there.  She _was_ his commanding officer. But he wasn’t going to let her go out there alone; not when he was so sure she had some similar views on life as he did right now.

“We could just go together?” he shrugged.

“Yeah, that sounds better to me.”  She smiled at him as she started working on the furniture barricade. Once they had cleared that, she immediately exited with her shotgun out and ready.

He followed behind her, watching as she lowered her shotgun and sighed a deep sigh of relief.  Then he felt the rumble through the floor in his feet.  He looked to the left and saw the brute rounding the corner.  Before he could even think, he was running forward, pushing Sofia out of the way.

“General, look out!”

He barely managed to get the words out before the super mutant brute tackled him through the window, and the last thing he saw was Sofia leaning out the window and screaming his name, reaching towards him.

 

////

Preston was woken up by the vaguely distant sound of shotgun shells.  His head was pounding as he took stock of his surroundings.  His leg hurt like hell, too, and he was sure it was broken.  A three story fall was nothing to laugh at, and he was just lucky he landed in a fairly, uh, _soft_ meat bag.  Lucky was one way to put it, he guessed.  The smell was enough to strangle a Deathclaw.  The sun had been starting to set, and it was still just a bit above the horizon.  It couldn’t have been long since he fell from the window.

His laser musket was missing, and he couldn’t stand up. He was basically a sitting duck here. The super mutant brute was face down further down the alley, but it was stirring.  As usual, time was not a luxury he could afford.

He squinted back up at the window; no sign of Sofia there now. He hoped the shotgun he heard was hers, but he had no way to know for sure.  Either way, he didn’t hear it now, and he feared the worst.  Obviously there were still more mutants besides the one who had tackled him.

“Hrgggg, puny human,” the creature slurred as it got back on it's feet.  Preston had to hand it to super mutants, they could definitely take a beating.

He tried to pull himself backwards, clamber further down the alley to get away as the super mutant was still struggling to stand, but with his leg it was no use.  It was slow going at best and horrendously painful at worst.

The super mutant had found his super sledge and was currently lumbering slowly towards him, the behemoth’s own injuries causing him to walk oddly.  This was going to be it and he knew it.  He had no weapon, no way to even shield himself from what was coming.  All he could do was hope it would be quick and painless. 

Time seemed to slow for him as the super mutant got closer. Maybe this was okay, he couldn’t let anyone down anymore.  And hadn’t he been feeling like this for a while?  Yeah, he could be okay with this.  He hoped and prayed Sofia made it out somehow, but soon it wouldn’t matter.

That’s when he heard her voice, loud and bellowing like salvation itself.

“Hey motherfucker!” she yelled, “Get away from him or I’ll really give you something to hurt about!!”

The super mutant turned and Preston could see her, covered in blood, crazed look in her eyes, breathing heavily.  She had his musket slung over her back and her shotgun drawn, orange colored sunset lighting her up with that same radiant halo he saw back at Sunshine Tidings.

She was out for death, and she was fucking pissed.

The brute started running towards her, but she stood her ground, waiting, lining up her shot with deadly accuracy.

Before he could even fully register what was happening, she pulled the trigger.  Explosive shotgun rounds ripping through the mutant’s skull with a loud crack and a sputtering of brains and blood.

It really was quite a disturbing sound.

The mutant fell in between them.  Sofia, still breathing heavily, lowered her shotgun and half-stumbled, half-ran to him.

“Preston! How bad are you hurt?” She knelt down beside him, face full of worry, digging in her pack for a Stimpak.

“I’ve been better,” he smiled at her, despite the pain, “crashing through a glass window is a new one, don’t think I’ll try it again. Pretty sure I shattered my leg.”

“Yeah, you did,” she looked up from her pack and grinned at him, “Always gotta be the hero, huh, Cowboy?”

“Hero nothing!  That thing was gonna ki—OW” He winced as she plunged the Stimpak directly into his calf.

“I’m sorry, were you saying something?”  Her smile widened as she helped him to his feet, the fast-acting medicine already working to stitch the bones back together, “Maybe something about ‘Oh my god Sofia thank you for saving my life and being the biggest badass in the wasteland’”

He laughed in spite of himself, “Yeah, something like that. That was a damn good shot, General.” He draped an arm over her shoulders while she put one arm around his waist, supporting him until the medicine took full effect.

“Let’s head back to Hangman’s and tell them the good news.”

“Sounds good to me, General.”

As they walked her PipBoy started to go to static, as it got clearer they could hear a very dramatic voice on the other side.

_"You have murdered a man in cold blood, justice must be served!"_

“What on earth,” Sofia said, pausing to look at the radio listing on the machine, “I mean that _sounds_ like someone in trouble, but it sounds familiar, too.”

Preston’s ears perked up, he knew that voice from the old holotapes they used to have at the Castle.

“Wait, wait,” he said, unable to hide his excitement, “That’s the Silver Shroud!  I love the Silver Shroud!”

_"It's the Silver Shroud, let's get out of here!"_

“Huh,” she said, “I wonder who’s broadcasting this.  Silver Shroud is from back in my day.  Looks like it's coming from Scollay Square; I'll bet nobody calls it that now.  But that’s not even the biggest question.”  She put her finger to her chin in thought.

“Well, what is then?” He cocked his head to the side and looked at her as that crooked grin spread across her face again.

“The BIGGEST question is who knew Preston Garvey was such a huge fucking _NERD_!” She jabbed him in his side playfully, earning her a swat on her hand from him.  “It’s not far from here,” she added, “Maybe we should check it out.  Maybe stop some _evildoers._ ” She added a creepy inflection on evildoers for emphasis, still giggling at his expense.

He felt his face go red as she laughed, and at the end of the day, that made everything worth it. 

Preston Garvey was falling hard and fast for this woman, still desperately trying to find something, _anything_ to grab onto to slow himself down.  But then she showed up and saved him for the second time, all blood and fury, lit by the sunset, looking like a hero out of the old comic books. Preston was gone; he’d hit the bottom of his fall and there was no going back now.

He really thought love would be a lot softer than that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading part 3 of my series! I appreciate every single view I get on these, honestly I never even expected to get one and the fact that my first two both have nearly or over thirty is astounding!
> 
> I'd like to give a little shoutout to JulietHasAGun because her fic based on this song is just so good and honestly it's what inspired me to get back into writing in the first place!
> 
> Also full disclosure, I couldn't resist using my favorite joke from The Mummy (1999).
> 
> Our next chapter will see a little canon divergence from the game, because I really want to write Preston as the Silver Shroud since he's such a damn nerd.
> 
> Thanks again for reading!


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